Have you been with us since January? If so, it’s official, you have completed six months of weekly organizational challenges. That work is adding up. Give yourself some time to appreciate it.

Today we are back in the bathroom. Last week we tackled the visual clutter on top of the vanity. This week we’re going a little deeper and handling the hidden clutter. Every bathroom is a little different. Some have cupboards. Some have drawers. Others have little closets tucked away in hidden corners.

We all know what happens in these spaces, band-aid release liners (yes, I had to look up what those are called), bobby, pins, hair ties, old nail polish, stray cotton balls, that bottle of acetone with just one cotton ball’s worth left chucked off in a corner. Why? I don’t know. It just happens. Slowly. Again and again.

Your mission? Fix it. Trash the trash, donate the personal care items you aren’t going to use, and put the other stuff away neatly.

You may want to vacuum out each space before putting everything back. There always seems to be stray hair, too.

This challenge doesn’t give a big visual win, but I find it to be a nice mental one.

Doesn’t that feel better?

Want to catch up on all of the organizing challenges? Here you:

   

Are you ready for your last Challenge in the kitchen. . . for now?

I am.

Today we are diving into our spices.

The rule of thumb for spices is that ground spices are good for six months.

That’s all well and good if you have an unlimited food budget. For the rest of us, use your nose. If you can still smell the spice, you can use it. If you don’t smell much of anything when you open the jar, it’s time to let it go and replace it. Now, if you have room in your budget, by all means, go ahead and replace spices that are losing their potency.

Unlike many food storage situations, this is a quality concern rather than a safety concern.

As far as organization, if you have spice mixes or rubs, you don’t like, get rid of them. There’s no reason to hang on to food you are not going to use. If you have duplicates that are open, combine them if you can. I can’t be the only one who ends up with multiple containers of basil, can I?

This one shouldn’t take too long.

Don’t forget that your local grocery store is not the only place to replace your spices. Your local Indian, Asian, and Mexican grocers often have spices at much better prices. Don’t let a trip out of your comfort zone get in the way of some of the best resources in your area.

Good luck!

   

One would think we would have run out of kitchen challenges by now. Nope, I’ve still got a couple up my sleeve.

This week we are peeking under the sink. This week you are going to want to be careful with how you dispose of chemicals. Remember, if you store your chemicals under the sink, you need to be careful not to mix chemicals as you dispose of them.

If you need a refresher, we’ve got the handy:

Remember, science is our friend. Let’s use it to our advantage and keep ourselves safe.

Did you know that household cleaners expire? If you count on items like chlorine bleach to disinfect your home, you must replace them regularly. If you’ve had an open container of bleach under your sink for more than a year, it’s time to replace it. Don’t pour it down the drain and follow it with a chaser of ammonia, even if both are expired.

Expired means less effective, not completely inactive. It may not kill all of the salmonella bacteria, but you could still create poisonous gases in a chemical reaction.

Enough disclaimers. While you are cleaning out from under the sink, do a quick check for leaks.

   

You may remember tackling the refrigerator a few weeks ago. However, if you remember, we organized the inside. This week we are going to take a good look at the outside.

Start at the top. In Heather’s home, this is where all the odds and ends that the youngest two shouldn’t get ahold of inevitably ends up. What does that mean? It is chock full of markers, magnets, balloons, and candy we don’t want to argue about at that moment. Who knows. It’s a dusty catchall that we just ignore until it starts to fall on our heads when we open the door.

It is time to address the situation.

What about the front and any visible sides? Is your appliance covered in old notes, lists, receipts, and artwork? Take a look and decide what to file, what to preserve and what to toss.

While you are at it, grab your vacuum or duster and give everything a good once over.

Want some extra credit?

Vacuum your refrigerator coils if you have the time and motivation. It helps keep your refrigerator running efficiently, which is good for your wallet and the environment.

   

Today’s organizational challenge is the freezer. We are setting ourselves up for success in the future and not focusing on the past. Please try not to dwell on any should haves.

I’ve been running this site for 15 many years now and still find mystery objects in the bottom of my freezer. Life happens. You don’t live on a TV set, and no one product or system is one hundred percent foolproof. You can always aim for better, but you will have busy seasons, marriage, births, school sports seasons, holidays, or life will hand out the changes none of us want to face: death, divorce, layoffs, illness. Whatever the reason, we lose track.

Let it go.

Get some gloves. This stuff is cold.

You will want a cooler or two to hold the items you want to keep as you sort shelf by shelf (or basket by basket).

Please empty your trashcan before you start. You will probably need the room.

Please get rid of the items that have obviously passed their expiration. Remember, a use-by date is a freeze-by date, not a consume-by date in the deep freeze. You are looking for damaged packaging, obvious freezer burn, and unidentifiable objects.

Make a list of what you have so you don’t waste energy pawing through the freezer and damaging what you have. This will also help you plan meals and take advantage of future sales.

Pro-tip: Your freezer is much more efficient when it is full. If you find that you have a lot of room after you finish organizing today. Find some empty freezer-safe containers one at a time, fill them with water, and freeze them. They will take up room in your freezer. As a bonus, if you live in hurricane country, this can count as part of your water storage. Just save it for the very last. You don’t want to open your freezer, letting any of that cold out.